Last December, shots rang out at two Moore County electrical substations and over 38,000 people were left without power for days. No arrests have been made, but Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said law enforcement are still working to investigate.
“We have pursued hundreds of leads since the start of the investigation and continue to receive them,” the sheriff said in a press release on Monday. “We have scoured local businesses and residential areas and have conducted hundreds of interviews in search of any information associated with the attacks.
“Although it is not prudent to share all the details of this case, we are working diligently to hold those responsible accountable for their actions and see justice served for our communities.”
The motive behind the substation attack hasn’t been made public, but shortly after the attacks, Fields said it was possible the “Downtown Divas” drag show was related. Durham-based drag queen Naomi Dix was one of the performers for the December 3 show. She initially told a local NBC affiliate last year she didn’t know if there was a link between the drag show and the power outages, although she shared a different opinion after seeing unconfirmed reports online.
“It would not surprise me if anything was geared or focused on creating issues for the queer community,” she explained in 2022. “I’m not going to say specifically for the drag show because we are more than just a drag show, we are a community of people, so it would not surprise me if the attack was focused on the queer community.”
Law enforcement have looked into the possible relationship between hate groups and the outage. Shortly after the substation attacks, two white supremacy banners were put on display over Moore County highways. They were later sent into the State Bureau of Investigations to extract any DNA left behind.
Fields told reporters he’s unsure if the banners or protests outside of the drag show were related to the substation attacks. He did say, however, authorities were looking into possible connections.